


Operation Steal Back Halloween

by amtrak12



Series: Operation More Toltzmann [4]
Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, background yatesbert being out of control dorks, because that's just who they are together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 11:57:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7843993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amtrak12/pseuds/amtrak12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abby and Erin put themselves in charge of decorating headquarters for Halloween. Patty and Holtzmann have some complaints.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Operation Steal Back Halloween

**Author's Note:**

> You know the Brooklyn 99 Halloween bets between Jake and Captain Holt? Yeah, I predict a yearly battle of Halloween decorations between Toltzmann and Yatesbert because Erin and Abby are obsessed dorks who don't know how to chill.

"Okay," Holtzmann said, putting her hand on the switch. "Ready?"

Patty nodded. "Ready."

Holtz quirked a smile. "I just want you to know, I'm nearly seventy-five percent certain this won't explode on us."

Patty unimpressed. "That wasn't even funny the first time you joked about things exploding."

"Alright." Holtzmann still smirked. "On go: one... two... go!"

She flipped the switch and suddenly the roof lit up in hundreds of purple, green, and orange stringed lights and electrically powered jack-o-lanterns. Simple ghosts with bulbous heads and no limbs dangled from wire stands shaped into trees. Fishing wire ran from structure to structure atop the roof to allow witches and bats to be hung like they were flying through the air. A furry-to-the-touch black cat stood guard at the rooftop door just beside a spiderweb draped podium holding an ancient-looking spellbook.

"Yes!" Patty clapped and cheered. "Alright, now this is Halloween decorations. You see?"

Holtzmann nodded. "Looks good."

"Looks amazing," Patty corrected. "This is what Halloween is about. It's about being cute and fun and kitschy. Not gross and creepy like those two wack-a-doos down there."

Erin and Abby had unilaterally set themselves up as the Halloween decorators at headquarters. Since Patty still had had big plans for dressing up in costume and handing out candy to the kids, she had been fine with that -- right up until the six foot tall statue of a basilisk went up. Do you know how terrifying it was to walk in the door and immediately be caught in the stare of a giant, demon-looking snake? Very, very terrifying.

(Maybe that was why the others didn't seem as perturbed by the snake as Patty did: they could walk right under the thing's ogling eyes.)

"Is it the wailing banshee you don't like or the interactive ectoplasm display?" Holtzmann asked about the main floor decorations.

Oh, lord, that ectoplasm display. "How'd Erin agree to that thing? She hates ectoplasm. She's always complaining about how the slime's out to get her."

Holtzy's smiling like this was all an entertaining play, but by this point in their relationship, Patty was pretty sure that just meant Holtzmann was pleased about something.

"Yeah, but she's tracked enough of it back to the lab that I was able to break down the formula and replicate it." Holtz's grin grew bigger. "You know it's more like snot than barf? Didn't expect that."

And that would be what she was pleased about, but Patty was still confused. "You're not a chemist, though."

"I used Google."

Patty nodded. That made sense. "Well, I suppose kids might find ghost snot fun, but the rest of those decorations down there are just gonna terrorize the trick-or-treaters. Do you know how many little girls we're gonna see dressed up like ghostbusters? They look up to us, and yet here we are trying to give them nightmares."

Holtzmann was silent for a few moments while she stared off at some distant jack-o-lantern. Patty waited.

"You know," Holtz finally said, "I have the whole back half of my second prototype lab free right now."

Patty frowned. "Man, are you saying you've been hoarding space on us?"

Holtzmann grimaced. "I may have overestimated how much area a proton canon takes up."

"Holtzy! You knew we were looking for a place to move Abby's rock collection. My vinyls need to be stored next to the turntable, not in my bedroom on an entirely different floor."

"Oopsie." Holtzmann's grimaced deepened. She held up a finger and added, "But! It means I have room to store a lot of terrifying Halloween decorations."

Patty stared while her meaning sunk in. "Oh... ohhoohhhoh, Holtzy, that's perfect! Ha!" She clapped her hands together. "Two questions. First, are you sure you're okay with having that hell snake stored in your lab?"

"Ah, yeah," Holtzmann nodded. "The trick is to always remember it's there."

"Alright," Patty shrugged. "Second question: how do we get Creep 1 and Creep 2 out of the way so we can hide the decorations?"

Holtzmann thought. "I have an idea."

"Without blowing anything up."

Holtzmann nodded like that was obvious (Patty never assumed it was with her). She repeated, "I have an idea."

"And without setting anything on fire."

There, Holtzmann paused and had to think some more. After a few moments, her eyes widened in delight and she threw her arms up in the air. "Oh! Nnngggg, genius. Big, big idea. Nnnhmhmm."

"What? What is it?"

Holtzmann buried her hands in her hair now as she still struggled to speak through her excitement. "Get Kevin, yes? Yes, yes, yes. Send errand. Say lost him. He's lost."

Patty shook her head. "I don't get it. What's Erin doing?"

"No, no," Holtzmann shook her head. "Send Kevin on an errand. Say we lost him." She opens and closes her hands several times, still fidgeting and struggling to speak.

Thankfully, Patty was catching on. "Like we get him out somewhere and pretend we lost him?"

"Yes!"

"Oh, okay. Okay, I get it," Patty said. "Cause we'll have to go get some more of the normal people's Halloween decorations from the store."

"Yes!" Holtzmann straightened both arms over her head again.

"And we take Kevin along," Patty continued, "and then ask him to go pick something up from a different store for us. Come back here, tell Abby and Erin we lost him so they have to go out and find him." She laughed. "That'll buy us at least two hours to switch things around. Holtzy, you're a genius!"

Holtz let out her version of a triumphant cry and then met the high five that Patty gave her. Then, the two of them headed out to put their plan into action.

It went off without hitch. The headquarters was successfully transformed into a child-friendly Halloween stop.

Abby and Erin returned with Kevin two hours and ten minutes after they left. They both froze at the door.

"Uh, where's all our stuff?" Abby asked.

Patty feigned ignorance. "I thought this was all your decorations."

Holtzmann wouldn't stop grinning. "You should check your bedrooms."

Two sets of eyes narrowed before Erin and Abby disappeared upstairs.

Kevin wandered the main room, investigating the new decorations. "Oh, look." He pointed to a battery-powered jack-o-lantern now sitting on his desk. "It's a ghost. Like our ghosts."

"That's right, Kevin. Good job," Patty said. Kevin grinned.

Dual shouts suddenly broke through from the upstairs. "Holtzmann!"

Holtzmann and Patty dissolved into laughter and high-fived each other again.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr @ amtrak12


End file.
